Freezer Burn

Chapter Five

This chapter is slightly NSFW!

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"He wouldn't have suddenly stopped." Nabil muttered in frustration, rubbing his temple as Allen boredly threw a stress ball at the wall, catching it as it came back to him. He seemed so carefree, so calm with the situation, meanwhile Nabil had been fretting all morning. As of late, there was nothing found having to do with the Mannequin Killer. Yes, it was great in that no bodies were being found, however it also meant that they wouldn't get any new leads until something did happen. There were no notes, no missing person reports, all that was left to prove the killer ever existed were the painful losses of women, their families left to mourn them.

"Why aren't you bothered by this?" Nabil questioned, frustration clear in his voice as he hit the stress ball away from Allen. The redhead glanced at Nabil, shrugging nonchalantly. "We weren't getting any closer anyways. This gives us more time to interrogate and review the evidence we already have." He leaned down to pick up the stress ball from the floor, once again tossing it to the wall and catching it to create a steady rhythm.

"We won't get closer because there's no more evidence. If he isn't out dropping off bodies, then he's probably doing something even more twisted." Nabil argued, drumming his fingers on the table to ignore the sound of the ball as it was thrown back and forth. "How are we supposed to interrogate anyone if we have no idea who it could be? We've interviewed family members, grave-tenders, suspects - won't you stop throwing that damn thing?!" He glared at the Irishman, who promptly caught the ball and averted his eyes to his work partner. Respectfully, he lowered his hand and didn't throw the ball again.

"We can go house by house and interrogate people." Allen stated plainly, receiving a scoff from Nabil. "The town is small, but not that small. Even if we had groups of officers interrogating every house, it would take days to get through everyone." He leaned back in his swivel chair and sent Allen a small glare of frustration. It was the least efficient thing to do right now, yet Allen seemed so confident in the idea.

"We have days, don't we?" Allen responded, tossing the ball to Nabil shortly he stood up.

Fabius sat boredly under the shade of a tree, wondering to himself why he would've agreed to this. Lucius and Malcolm talked together merrily, enjoying the wonderful weather in the small park. It was chilly out still, with winter approaching, yet the sun was still shining. They had thought it was perfect weather to enjoy the day, and suggested Fabius spend some time out of his room as well.

Fabius couldn't forgive himself for thinking they might be right.

He had a book, but one he wasn't too interested in reading. Plus, with all of the noise around him - the laughing children, adults chatting, leaves gently rustling - he just couldn't focus. His eyes scanned the crowds, looking for any interesting individuals. Maybe it was him seeing what he wanted to see, but lately, Fabius thought he had spotted a familiar face a few times, anywhere he went. Maybe familiar face was the wrong term - he had only seen the man once before. The cashier who he had the strange encounter with. It was hard to mistake him for anyone, he had a pretty unique face with all of the piercings in it. It must've been coincidence, Fabius convinced himself of that.

Then he spotted him. He felt like his heart lurched, and not in a good way. Maybe once it was nice seeing such a handsome face, but the more he saw it, the less coincidental it was. The more it terrified him. He stared in silence at that gaunt face, the cashier sitting on the bench quite a ways away. Fabius glanced to Lucius and Malcolm, but of course they didn't notice the man, what was there to notice? It was just like anyone else, except he was staring at Fabius. At least that was what Fabius was assuming. He was probably paranoid, or flattering himself, but he couldn't help but wonder. Every time he looked forward he was there, like his eyes were digging holes into Fabius' skull. It made his heart thud, it drove him up the wall.

Fabius abruptly got up, leaving the scene with some shakiness in his knees. Lucius tried to ask where he was going, but received no answer from his brother. Fabius made his way to the restrooms, they weren't much and people only used them if it was an emergency, but Fabius just wanted to calm down. He knew he was being unreasonable, he figured he was having an anxiety attack because of how many people were at the park. When Fabius finally got inside, he was relieved to find no one else inside.

Despite it being a nice park, the bathrooms were unsurprisingly lackluster. They weren't absolutely disgusting, but the lights didn't illuminate much and water dripped off of something in a repetitive pattern. Fabius made his way to the farthest stall, slinking in and locking the stall door with a sigh. He leaned against the wall, though it may not have been the most sanitary thing in the world. He could hear his heart as it beat in his chest, luckily it was slowly beginning to calm back down as he separated himself from the crowd. The chatter outside was muffled by the walls, leaving the sound of dripping water and a the steady hum of fluorescent lights to fill the restroom.

Fabius lost track of time, but it couldn't have been too long before he heard the door quietly creak and shut. Heavy, but slow footsteps gave away where the stranger was, though it didn't occur to Fabius to even listen to them. At least, not until he heard them stop. Fabius lifted his head from where he had it leaned back and opened his eyes, peering through the cracks between the stall door - and immediately noticing the dark silhouette behind it. His eyes trailed down, spotting the two large feet clad in black shoes, right in front of the stall door. Fabius's heart jumped into his throat, he couldn't do much besides stare for a moment.

Carefully, Fabius reached out and gripped the lock on the bathroom door, holding it closed out of paranoia. He kept his hand as still as possible, as if trying to convince the man on the other side that no one was in the stall. He grit his teeth, a lump growing in his throat as he tried his best to breathe quietly. Fabius could've easily been overreacting, there was plenty of possiblity that he was just checking the stall to see if it was empty, but it wasn't the first time Fabius had been so terrified in this situation before.

It was in elementary school, he was just a kid then. Fabius remembered exactly how the shoes looked, exactly what words he said. He had been hiding in a stall from a few kids who got a kick out of bullying him, practically crying because he thought he would never be able to leave. He could hear them making cruel comments right outside of the stall - but that wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him came after. A teacher came in and chased the kids away, and stood right outside of the stall.

He made such strange comments, said such weird things. Things that at the time Fabius didn't understand. He kept convincing him to open the stall door, giving him nicknames that made him feel comfortable. Of course Fabius opened the door.

At some point, Fabius has shut his eyes tightly again. His hand was white with how forcefully he held the door locked, even if the stranger on the other side wasn't trying to get in. In fact, he wasn't trying anything. He just stood there quietly, he didn't move a muscle or say a word. There were no footsteps and the door never opened. He was still standing there, like he knew how it bothered Fabius. Like he wanted to torture him. Fabius's breathing was hitched, he felt like he was on the verge of suffocating. Every breath was staggered and he felt like it was incredibly loud. He repeated the same words in his head, over and over, hoping that maybe it could fix the situation. He felt helpless, his knees felt weak and his chest felt tight.

Please leave. Please leave. Please leave. Please leave. Please leave. Please leave.

Thought it had only been a few moments, Fabius felt like an hour had passed before the footsteps slowly began to retreat. The door opened, and shut, leaving Fabius alone in the bathroom once again. He nervously pushed open the stall door, looking around the bathroom as if someone may have still been in there - but no one was. After a moment of regaining himself, Fabius somehow managed to leave the stall, and then the restroom all together.

The sun felt obnoxiously bright as soon as Fabius opened the door, the chatter immediately filled his ears like nothing had even happened. He felt safe again. Fabius made his way back to Lucius and Malcolm, yearning for their comforting and familiar presence. He just wanted to be around people he knew, seeing Lucius's familiar smile when he spotted him just felt - nice. As Fabius took his seat next to his brother again, he looked up, letting his eyes scan the benches a little further away.

And right across from them, there was an empty bench.